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CARLOTTA COCHIS

Assegnista di ricerca
Dipartimento di Scienze e Metodi dell'Ingegneria
Docente a contratto
Dipartimento di Scienze e Metodi dell'Ingegneria

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Pubblicazioni

2024 - How designed work environment and enacted work interactions impact creativity and work-life balance [Articolo su rivista]
Mattarelli, E; Cochis, C; Bertolotti, F; Ungureanu, P
abstract

Purpose This paper investigates how (1) a work environment designed to sustain creativity (i.e. through flexible arrangements and elements of the social-organizational work environment) and (2) the amount of enacted work interactions among employees, interpreted as facilitators of new idea generation (i.e. outdegree centrality in instrumental networks), differently impact creativity and work-life balance. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a quantitative study in a knowledge-intensive multinational company and collected data through a survey on a sample of 207 workers. Findings Findings highlight that flexible work arrangements are positively related to increased work-life balance but not to creativity, whereas having access to a social-organizational work environment designed to foster creativity is associated to an increased level of idea generation, but to a reduction in work-life balance. In addition, centrality in instrumental social networks is also associated to a reduction of work-life balance. Findings thus point to a potential trade-off between structures aimed at increasing creativity and initiatives aimed at engendering work-life balance. Originality/value The research contributes to the current debate on new organizational practices for innovation and creativity, highlighting their unexpected implications for workers. The research also contributes to the literature on work-life balance by unraveling previously unexplored antecedents, i.e. social networks and the social-organizational work environment designed for creativity.

2021 - How perceptions of work-life balance and technology use impact upon creativity in collaborative spaces [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Cochis, C.; Mattarelli, E.; Bertolotti, F.; Scapolan, A. C.; Montanari, F.; Ungureanu, P.
abstract

This paper unpacks creative processes in collaborative spaces (CS). We focus on how the positive resources related to wellbeing and work-life balance derived from working in CS interplay with the use of collaborative technology in affecting individual creativity. We conducted a survey study with individuals working in 27 different CS in Italy. We propose and find a positive relationship between the perceived level of work-life balance satisfaction and individual creativity. Instead we do not find a significant relationship between the frequency of technology mediated interactions with external actors and individual creativity. Furthermore, the relationship between work-life balance and creativity is negatively moderated by technology mediated interactions with external actors. In other words, an intense use of collaborative technology with actors external to the CS can generate perceptions of overload thus making the impact of work-life balance on creativity not significant. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications.

2021 - Searching for creativity in innovative working contexts. The role of embeddedness in collaborative spaces [Articolo su rivista]
Leone, Ludovica; Cochis, Carlotta; Scapolan, Anna Chiara; Montanari, Fabrizio
abstract

2020 - Explaining path dependence in boundary work for internal and external innovation. The role of corporate collaborative spaces. [Capitolo/Saggio]
Ungureanu, P.; Cochis, C.; Bertolotti, F.; Scapolan, A.
abstract

2020 - Multiplex boundary work in innovation projects: the role of collaborative spaces for cross-functional and open innovation [Articolo su rivista]
Ungureanu, P.; Cochis, C.; Bertolotti, F.; Mattarelli, Elisa.; Scapolan, A. C.
abstract

Purpose: This study investigates the role of collaborative spaces as organizational support for internal innovation through cross-functional teams and for open innovation with external stakeholders. In particular, the study focuses on collaborative spaces as tools for multiplex (i.e., simultaneous internal and external boundary management in innovation projects). Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a qualitative study in a multi-divisional organization that set up in its headquarters a collaborative space for collaborative product development. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and participant observations. Findings: Findings highlight that the relation between expectations and experiences about the collaborative space impact on employees' ability to perform boundary work inside and outside the organization. In addition to the collaborative space's affording role for expectations about hands-on collaborative innovation (space as laboratory), the study also highlights a set of collaboration constraints. These latter are generated by perceived boundary configurations (i.e. degree of boundary permeability and infrastructure in internal and external collaborations) and by discrepancies between expectations (space as laboratory) and actual collaboration experiences in the space (i.e. space as maze, cloister, showcase and silo). We show that space-generated constraints slow down internal and external boundary work for innovation and generate a trade-off between them. Originality/value: Using the process-based perspective of boundary work, the paper connects studies on cross-functional teaming and open innovation through the concept of “multiplex boundary work.” It also contributes to the literature on boundary work by showing the challenges of using collaborative spaces as organizational support tools for multiplex boundary spanning.

2019 - HOW PERCEPTIONS OF WORK LIFE BALANCE AND TECHNOLOGY USE IMPACT UPON CREATIVITY IN COLLABORATIVE SPACES [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Cochis, Carlotta; Mattarelli, Elisa; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Scapolan, Anna Chiara; Montanari, Fabrizio; Ungureanu, Paula
abstract

This paper unpacks creative processes in collaborative spaces (CS). We focus on how the positive resources related to wellbeing and work-life balance derived from working in CS interplay with the use of collaborative technology in affect-ing individual creativity. We conducted a survey study with individuals working in 27 different CS in Italy. We propose and find a positive relationship between the perceived level of work-life balance satisfaction and individual creativity. In-stead we do not find a significant relationship between the frequency of technolo-gy mediated interactions with external actors and individual creativity. Further-more, the relationship between work-life balance and creativity is negatively moderated by technology mediated interactions with external actors. In other words, an intense use of collaborative technology with actors external to the CS can generate perceptions of overload and therefore making the impact of work-life balance on creativity not significant. We conclude with theoretical and practi-cal implications

2018 - Innovating onsite or coordinating online? An exploration of how knowledge practices shape the onsite and online collaboration interplay across the lifecycle of collaborative communities [Articolo su rivista]
Ungureanu, Paula; Cochis, Carlotta; Rodighiero, Stefano; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; Montanari, Fabrizio; Rinaldini, Matteo; Scapolan, Anna Chiara
abstract

This paper inquires about how collaborative communities configure online and onsite collaboration practices throughout their lifecycle, paying specific attention to how knowledge practices and online-onsite collaboration practices interplay. While previous literature shows that the same online and onsite collaboration practices can be both good and bad for an organization’s ability to generate new knowledge, we show that this insight can be better understood at the light of an organization’s lifecycle. By studying the evolution of a collaborative community of designers, we show that different stages of development afford different types of community structuring, identity processes and knowledge practices, which in turn shape different needs in terms of online-onsite interplay. We contribute to the literature on collaborative spaces by underscoring the importance of considering hybrid workspaces where the interplay of onsite and online collaboration assumes complex and dynamic configurations.

2018 - The journey of great expectations: A study on how institutional expectations impact collaboration expectations and collaboration enactment in hybrid interorganizational partnerships [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Ungureanu, P; Bellesia, F; Bertolotti, F; Mattarelli, E.; Cochis, C.
abstract

Our research is concerned with the role played by expectations in hybrid interorganizational collaboration projects. In particular, we look at how organizations participating in public-private partnerships negotiate broad and ill-defined goals and expectations set by policymakers to carry forward heterogeneous expectations about the partnership. We empirically study a hybrid partnership in which public and private actors came together with the broad goal of supporting regional innovation and fostering knowledge exchange. We use a process-perspective derived from the sociology of expectations to analyze the generative and transformational role of expectations, that is, how expectations shape dynamics and outcomes of hybrid collaboration. In particular, we document that the tendency to create ad-hoc material objects or spaces (in our case, a regional science park) can lead to vicious self-reinforcing mechanisms that push partners away from the initial collaboration goals. Notably, too many expectations and promissory commitments associated to an already configured physical space may lock partners in rigid and repetitive interaction schemes, especially when the configuration of the space is not backed up by social centrality— willingness and ability to modify pre-existing organizational structures. We offer contributions to a better understanding of collaborative dynamics in partnership failure and a more nuanced understanding of policy goal-setting through hybrid private-public partnerships.